Earlier than Byron Allen grew to become a media mogul, he was a type of comedians whose life was modified by Johnny Carson.
Rising up, Allen would accompany his mom to the NBC lot in Burbank, the place she labored as a publicist, and was supplied with a present enterprise schooling. An aspiring comedian who performed comedy golf equipment as a young person, he repeatedly waited within the car parking zone for the late-night host to change a number of phrases earlier than tapings of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”
When Allen was 18 years outdated, he grew to become the youngest comedian to look on Carson’s “Tonight” stage. It led to an everyday position on the NBC prime-time collection “Real People” and a profitable stand-up profession that had him touring for 20 years.
Now Allen, 64, is poised to reenter the late-night TV enviornment — and simply when the style is at a crossroads. CBS’ resolution to finish “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” subsequent Might raises questions on the way forward for the nocturnal kingdom Carson as soon as dominated.
Allen will turn out to be part of the CBS late-night lineup beginning Sept. 22, when his collection “Comics Unleashed” takes over the 12:30 a.m. time slot and can observe Colbert throughout his last season.
Allen’s collection hasn’t produced a brand new episode since 2016, however the 233 that had been made throughout its unique run have remained in syndication and aired as a stopgap for CBS in 2023 after the community canceled the money-losing “Late Late Show With James Corden.” The community is choosing up “Comics Unleashed” for the 2025-26 season because the successor to Corden alternative “After Midnight With Taylor Tomlinson,” which concluded its second and last season in June.
Allen has no illusions about why CBS has turned to “Comics Unleashed” once more.
“It’s not cheaper,” Allen mentioned. “It’s zero.”
Allen Media Group buys the airtime on CBS for “Comics Unleashed” and retains many of the promoting time on this system to promote.
It’s the identical system Allen used for “Entertainers With Byron Allen,” this system that launched his firm within the Nineteen Nineties. Allen would rating interviews with main stars at press junkets and reduce them right into a weekly program.
He would go to the Nationwide Assn. of Tv Program Executives convention, an annual TV market for syndicated programming, and inform station homeowners that when the high-priced new exhibits they had been shopping for failed, they need to come to him and get “Entertainers” without spending a dime. The stations acquired half the business time whereas Allen offered the remaining to nationwide advertisers from his kitchen desk.
“I’m addicted to selling,” Allen mentioned.
CBS mentioned Colbert’s present is being canceled for monetary causes, with insiders saying it was accruing losses of $40 million a yr.
“The Late Show” could have essentially the most viewers in late night time, however Colbert has the largest piece of a shrinking pie. Nielsen knowledge present the variety of houses utilizing tv between 11:35 p.m. and 1:35 a.m. has declined round 13% within the first six months of 2025 in contrast with the identical interval final yr. Advert revenues for the entire exhibits have declined dramatically as nicely over the previous few years.
Byron Allen, chairman of Allen Media Group.
(Michael Bezjian / Getty Photographs for Allen Media Group)
Late-night exhibits are costly to supply, with high-priced hosts, giant writing staffs and the prices of servicing reside audiences. Whereas they generate income from clips on social media, they don’t do nicely on streaming. The topical nature of the exhibits diminishes their worth as library product, which helps hold subscribers hooked on streaming platforms.
What makes “Comics Unleashed” completely different than conventional late-night franchises is that it’s designed to have an extended shelf life.
Within the current reruns which have aired on CBS and in syndication, viewers heard an occasional joke concerning the Bush administration or a plug for a comic book’s MySpace deal with. However for essentially the most half, the exhibits comprise few references that date them.
“I tell the comedians we’re shooting ‘I Love Lucy,’” Allen mentioned. “Something that’s evergreen. So I don’t want to hear any political humor. Just be funny, family-friendly and advertiser-friendly.”
Along with veteran comics Allen has recognized for years, the collection booked many stand-up stars earlier than they grew to become family names, together with Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings, Sebastian Maniscalco, Nate Bargatze and Chelsea Handler.
Stand-ups who toil on the comedy membership circuit are grateful for the publicity the present offered.
“To me, Byron is the patron saint of comedians,” mentioned Greg Romero Wilson, who wrote for this system and appeared as a panelist. “He’s given so many opportunities to comics of every level. From up-and-comers to names you’ve known your whole life, Byron makes room for everyone.”
Stand-up comedian Shang Forbes mentioned he hears from viewers members at golf equipment who recall bits from episodes of the collection he taped years in the past.
“It was a very good experience,” Forbes mentioned. “I was surprised how many people saw it.”
Allen wished “Comics Unleashed” to re-create the camaraderie he skilled throughout his personal stand-up profession, which began when Jimmie “J.J.” Walker employed him as a 14-year-old joke author alongside David Letterman and Jay Leno. (“Let me ask my mom,” Allen mentioned when he acquired the supply.)
“What I remember most is that comedians were at their funniest afterwards when we went to Canter’s Deli,” Allen mentioned.
Since shopping for the Climate Channel for $300 million in 2018, Allen has made a behavior of throwing his hat within the ring every time a legacy media firm is claimed to be up on the market. However he lately reached a deal to promote 10 of Allen Media Teams’s 28 TV stations to Atlanta-based Grey Media as a part of an effort to scale back the privately held firm’s debt and spend money on streaming.
Because the proprietor of community affiliate stations, he’s nicely conscious of the financial challenges dealing with conventional TV as viewers migrate to streaming, driving down rankings and advert income.
“All of it is under pressure,” he mentioned. “The networks are spending more on sports and less on nonsports content.”
Allen spends lots of time speaking to bankers and attorneys — during the last decade he’s filed lawsuits towards Comcast, McDonald’s and Nielsen, all of which had been settled — however regardless of working a enterprise, he’ll host new episodes of “Comics Unleashed” himself. He plans to supply 132 half-hours, which can run back-to-back with repeat episodes. He will even be writing some jokes.
“You never stop being a comedian,” he mentioned. “It’s a muscle that never goes away.”
